ROANOKE, Va. — Citing adverse business conditions, Norfolk Southern recently abolished 89 positions systemwide of employees who maintain the tracks and operate machines, the Roanoke Times reports.
Close to 40 maintenance-of-way employees – about 20 on the Virginia division and 19 on the Pocahontas division – went to work March 18 and learned of the layoffs that were effective Thursday . The other 50 positions were abolished from the rest of the NS system.
The Virginia division’s territory stretches from Hagerstown, Md., to Winston-Salem, N.C., and from Norfolk, Va., to Bluefield, W.Va. The Pocahontas division’s territory goes from Bluefield to Sciotoville, Ohio.
It is expected that the people affected will find work on travel gangs, given the railroad’s extensive planned road improvements, said NS spokeswoman Susan Bland. The railroad’s $705 million capital improvement budget includes $482 million for projects and $173 million for equipment. The budget does not include any projects in Roanoke.
Among the improvements, the largest expense will be $366 million for rail, crosstie, ballast and bridge programs. Other road projects include $43 million for increasing track access for the railroad’s coal and automotive customers.
Some of the layoffs affect employees who have worked at least 25 years for the railroad.
T.R. “Tom” McCoy Jr., general chairman of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, said NS advertised for positions on travel gangs, but not enough union people applied to fill them. He said last week’s layoffs were done to force workers to take the travel gang jobs.
He said NS maintenance workers laid off in February 2000 had found other jobs outside the railroad after being out of work for nearly a year. This reduced the pool of available workers for the railroad, McCoy said.
Also , the railroad laid off 68 workers from its Roanoke locomotive shop effective Thursday . Union workers in several crafts, including machinists, sheet metal workers and electricians, are affected. Unlike some earlier layoffs that were indefinite, this one has a recall date of June 2.